True Finns Gain 34 Seats, Everyone Else Loses Seats

The Finnish election results will take a bit longer to sort
out. Finnish public broadcaster YLE is projecting a narrow
win (in parliamentary seats) for the National Coalition Party,
with the Social Democrats running second and the surging True
Finns running third. That's one way to look at the
election results.

The other way to look at the election results is to look at the
last line in this
chart, which tallies seats in Parliament gained or
lost. The True Finns gained 34 seats. Everybody else
lost seats. That's the story of this election.

What does it mean? It means what True Finns leader Timo Soini
says it means: the EU package to bail-out Portugal (as proposed)
will not stand. Or, as he put it: "The package that is
there -- I do not believe it will remain."

Unlike other EU member states, the Finns vote (up or down) on EU
policy matters in Parliament.